The Observer
The Observer is a British newspaper, published on Sundays. It is a sister paper to The Guardian, whose parent company Guardian Media Group acquired it in 1993, it takes a social liberal or social democratic line on most issues. First published in 1791, it is the world's oldest Sunday newspaper. It is available in an online edition.
400 articles
List of articles in the library
Rival gangs turn their war against Jamaica's politicians
Report and Interview by James Fox, The Observer, 22 January 1978
UNTIL TWO weeks ago today, Kingston was one of the most violent and frightening places on earth. ...
Bobby Womack: Hammersmith Odeon, London
Live Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 1984
FOR THE last couple of weeks, London theatres have been filled (or should have been) with British pop musicians taking tips from their American masters. ...
Billy Bragg, Prefab Sprout: The ICA Season: Rock Bands Find The Human Touch
Live Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 1984
Billy Bragg/Prefab Sprout: The Institute of Contemporary Arts, London ...
Bruce Springsteen: Springsteen: Scruff As Superstar
Profile by Simon Frith, The Observer, 1985
IF BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN didn’t exist rock critics would have had to invent him – which, in a sense, they did. His manager, ex-journalist Jon Landau, ...
Radio 1: Pleasing All The People
Report and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 23 February 1986
Pop station or pap station? The head of Radio 1 talks to JON SAVAGE ...
Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 9 March 1986
BRIAN ENO: More Blank Than Frank (EG Records EGLP 65) ...
Liza Minnelli: Palladium, London
Live Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 9 March 1986
Needing to be Loved MARY HARRON assesses Liza Minnelli's comeback ...
Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 16 March 1986
Smokey Robinson: Smoke Signals (Tamla 6156TL); Prince: 'Kiss' (WEA W8751T 12 Inch); William Bell: Passion (WRC WIL-3001 US Import) ...
Husker Dü: Powerhouse, Birmingham
Live Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 30 March 1986
The critics' choice: SIMON FRITH watches Husker Dü in Birmingham ...
Tom Robinson Band: Tom Robinson: Staying True
Profile and Interview by Simon Frith, The Observer, June 1986
THEY MET AGAIN, after all these years, in a hotel corridor in Manchester, John Lydon and Tom Robinson, the yin and yang of punk politics. ...
Review by Simon Frith, The Observer, 15 June 1986
I KNOW there are hundreds of thousands of people out there (most of them Observer readers) who took forward to a new Genesis LP, but ...
Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Chasing the Dragon
Report by Jon Savage, The Observer, 13 July 1986
JON SAVAGE reports on the rise and fall of Boy George ...
Chrissie Hynde, The Pretenders: Chrissie Hynde: Still spikey after baby
Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 19 October 1986
"PEOPLE OFTEN say to me in interviews: 'You aren't very prolific are you?' The answer is, no I'm not! I could step up my output, ...
Dire Straits, Pet Shop Boys, Spandau Ballet: BPI Awards: Middle-age Spread
Report by Jon Savage, The Observer, 15 February 1987
JON SAVAGE takes a sceptical look at the BPI Awards ...
Boy George, Culture Club: Boy George: Flying nun back on the runway
Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 22 February 1987
Boy George talks exclusively to JON SAVAGE about heroin, cold turkey and death ...
Profile and Interview by Robin Eggar, The Observer, 5 April 1987
In Dublin they joke that Bono, lead singer of the rock band U2, has God's phone number. Not for U2 groupies, drugs or a limo ...
Pink Floyd, Roger Waters: Roger Waters: He's Got The Technology
Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 12 July 1987
Roger Waters talks to JON SAVAGE about life after Pink Floyd ...
Bruce Springsteen: Dave Marsh: Glory Days: A Biography of Bruce Springsteen (Sidgwick & Jackson)
Book Review by Jon Savage, The Observer, August 1987
Sucking up to the boss ...
T. Graham Brown: Like It Used To Be
Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 30 August 1987
Rising Country star T. Graham Brown makes conversation with JON SAVAGE ...
Report by Simon Frith, Jon Savage, The Observer, 11 October 1987
SIMON FRITH and JON SAVAGE on the home-taping controversy ...
Report by Simon Frith, Jon Savage, The Observer, 18 October 1987
SIMON FRITH and JON SAVAGE on more copyright complexities ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus And Mary Chain: In Never-never Pop Land.
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1988
In their promo videos the Jesus and Mary Chain aim to be as disorientating to the eye as they are to the ear. Look again ...
Throwing Muses: Vivien Goldman catches up with the Throwing Muses
Interview by Vivien Goldman, The Observer, 8 May 1988
WITH MUCH TALK about the late-1980s being the day of the post-feminist woman, it is natural to ask: if feminist battles are won, why are ...
Book Review by Jon Savage, The Observer, 10 July 1988
Inside outsider ...
Report and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 13 October 1988
IT'S 8.45 ON A typically crisp Friday evening in Sheffield. The queue is already beginning to lengthen, even though the doors to the City Hall ...
Billy Bragg's Brave New England
Report and Interview by Mark Sinker, The Observer, 27 November 1988
2005 comment: Neil Spencer didn’t rate me or want to use me, according to Jon Savage – who told him (Sav told me) not to ...
Roy Orbison: The Big O 1936-1988
Obituary by Mark Cooper, The Observer, 18 December 1988
Chubby and shaded, Roy Orbison made a generation weep in pleasurable misery, says MARK COOPER ...
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 22 January 1989
SIMON REYNOLDS on mind-blowing Loop, the most disorienting group of the day ...
Simply Red: A Simply Red hot lover
Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Observer, 29 January 1989
Mick Hucknall bristles with social convictions but his songs aren't those of an angry young man. MARK COOPER meets the singer with a penchant for ...
Dusty Springfield: Brand New Dusty
Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 12 February 1989
She was the beehive who buzzed to the top of the Sixties pops and faded into the California sunset in the Seventies. The Press proved ...
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 19 February 1989
"NEW YORK IS getting dull," says Suicide's Alan Vega. "The downtown New York of the Seventies has gone. But there's still something here, an electricity, ...
Report and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 26 February 1989
Ritualised violence, style and beauty make up the male world of Voguing: the new dance from New York's ghettos. ...
Depeche Mode: Modernists à la Mode
Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 12 March 1989
JON SAVAGE enters the futuristic visions of Depeche Mode, where androgyny meets electro-pop ...
Cowboy Junkies: Lone Rangers on the Country Landscape
Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 26 March 1989
SIMON REYNOLDS rides with the Cowboy Junkies ...
Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 21 May 1989
"I COULD TURN YOU inside out! But I choose not to!" R.E.M.’s singer Michael Stipe, back arched, is bellowing into a megaphone. Five songs into ...
Joyce Sims: All About Love (Sleeping Bag 823 1291)
Review by Mark Sinker, The Observer, 10 September 1989
DISCO'S FUTURIST variants Chicago House and Detroit Techno are machine-age musics that prefer motion to emotion, leaving mainstream R&B seeming old-form and narrow — only ...
N.W.A: NWA: Straight Outta Compton (4th & Broadway BRLP 534)
Review by Mark Sinker, The Observer, 10 September 1989
NWA'S DEBUT, with a high count of F-words, savaging of bad policing, and ambivalent depictions of LA street drug-dealers, teen-gang wars and urban ruin, has ...
Interview by Cynthia Rose, The Observer, October 1989
A mix of songs that paint pictures, with women and God driving the music and the marketing machine, have spawned a Soul II Soul empire. ...
808 State, A Guy Called Gerald: House-proud
Report by Len Brown, The Observer, 17 December 1989
Techno-beat may have played itself out in the capital, but in Manchester it's the rhythm which has sparked a working-class musical revolution. LEN BROWN reports ...
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1990
From her punk beginnings as style terrorist through her early Eighties reign as godmother of 'Goth' to the almost motherly figure she now presents, Siouxsie's ...
The Pixies: Ditties Of Pixilated Reasoning
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1990
A year ago, the Pixies were considered the last word in rock bacchanalia. The Boston-based band's three albums – Come On Pilgrim, Surfer Rosa and ...
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, February 1990
Two years ago, Lloyd Cole folded his band, The Commotions, after six years, a bunch of hit singles and three solidly successful albums (Rattlesnakes, Easy ...
A Hard Graff For A Piece Of The Action
Report and Interview by Cynthia Rose, The Observer, 22 April 1990
Cynthia Rose says in Europe they know the writing's on the wall. ...
John Cale, Lou Reed, The Velvet Underground: Velvet Memories of Andy Warhol
Report and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 22 April 1990
Simon Reynolds on Lou Reed's reunion with John Cale. ...
The Stone Roses: Flaring Up: The Stone Roses at Spike Island
Report and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 8 July 1990
YOU CAN see them all over the North-West, drifting through Manchester’s arcades, doing the swim-dance in the high-tech Hacienda, travelling en masse to tribal events ...
Deee-Lite: Accentuating the Positive
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 9 September 1990
Simon Reynolds on '90s Zeitgeist with love from NY. ...
James Brown: He’s Brown And He’s Proud
Profile and Interview by Cynthia Rose, The Observer, 16 September 1990
"NOT TOO MANY people can really set a precedent," James Brown told me. "But then, I was never too traditional about music." What an understatement. ...
Adamski: The Adamant Alchemist
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 23 September 1990
CHAOS IS a word with special resonance for Adam Tinley, better known as Adamski. He even named his canine companion Dis after Discordia, the goddess ...
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 30 September 1990
THIS SUMMER, The Grid released 'Floatation', a single that perfectly captured the New Age mood that has pervaded club culture in 1990. 'Floatation' combined deep ...
Ocean Colour Scene: Fowler’s Mod English Usage
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 9 December 1990
If 1989 was the year Manchester proclaimed itself pop capital of Britain, 1990 was when reality caught up with the rhetoric. ...
The Fall: "You Can't Knock It, Can You?"
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 23 December 1990
GIVEN HIS curmudgeonly image, you might expect Mark E. Smith to regard Christmas as a time to endure rather than enjoy. ...
Report by Simon Frith, The Observer, 30 December 1990
THE BRITISH Phonographic Industry, the record trade organisation, never did manage to endear itself to Margaret Thatcher. Its connection with sex and drugs and rock ...
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1991
The story of Primal Scream, whose second hit single entered the charts this week, encapsulates the last 14 years of British rock history. Bobby Gillespie, ...
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 6 January 1991
Simon Reynolds finds Soho down in the East End. ...
Interview by Tony Fletcher, The Observer, 10 March 1991
Tony Fletcher finds REM have turned from tub-thumping to thoughts of love. ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 7 April 1991
Simon Reynolds profiles the anarchic duo The KLF ...
Paul Simon: Simon Reports Back To Base
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 5 May 1991
PAUL SIMON'S management company has one client: Paul Simon. Based in Broadway's legendary Brill Building (where Simon and Garfunkel first attempted to sell their songs ...
David Byrne: From Ur to L.A. and back again
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 23 June 1991
In performance, and as the 'compere' in his film True Stories, David Byrne comes across as the epitome of Wasp uptightness, nervy and ill at ...
The Pixies: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 30 June 1991
Ungodly and oh so grungy ...
Guns N' Roses: Guns N’ Roses: Danger Lurks Beyond The Doors
Profile by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 25 August 1991
No other rock band today provokes such polarised opinions as Guns N' Roses. For some, they are 'the most dangerous band in the world', heirs ...
The Red Hot Chili Peppers: Red Hot Chili Peppers: Magicians followed but not chaste
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 29 September 1991
One of the most hyperactive rock scenes in the United States is a genre called 'funk-metal' or 'funk 'n' roll'. Groups like Faith No More, ...
Saint Etienne: St Etienne: Debut That's Alpha Oscar Kilo
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 20 October 1991
ON THEIR delightful debut album, Foxbase Alpha, St Etienne mix contemporary house rhythms with the string-swept melodrama of Sixties pop. Amazingly, the creators of this ...
Manic Street Preachers: Righteous Hate 4 Real
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 10 November 1991
When Malcolm McLaren rewrote the Sex Pistols story as The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, he invented a new genre – rock bands who come ...
Teenage Fanclub: The Glitz And The Grunge
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 1 December 1991
WITH THEIR first single, 'Everything Flows', last year, Teenage Fanclub's grinding raunch and bluesy solos announced that here at last was a British group unafraid ...
Nirvana: Smells Like A Sensation
Profile by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 8 December 1991
NIRVANA ARE THE sensation of 1991. Their single ‘Smells Like Teen Spirit’ shot straight into the UK Top Ten and is now number seven after ...
Tom Waits: A conversation with Tom Waits
Interview by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 1992
To converse with Tom Waits is to be lied to, consistently, determinedly, entertainingly. ‘I’ll tell you all my secrets but I’ll lie about my past,’ ...
Lush: Hazy Daze For The Scenesters
Profile by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 2 February 1992
Just about the only thing happening in British indie music last year was a rash of blurry, neo-psychedelic bands known as 'shoegazers' or The Scene ...
Nick Cave, Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds: A Lighter Shade of Cave
Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 15 March 1992
JON SAVAGE MEETS THE SINGER KNOWN AS THE PUNK MESSIAH ...
Babes in Toyland, Daisy Chainsaw, Hole, The Nymphs: Scream with the She-Rebels
Overview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 15 March 1992
WHILE ROCK'N'ROLL abounds with angry young men, female rage has always been a scarce commodity. There's been the gleeful anarchy of the Slits, Patti Smith's ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus and Mary Chain: A Spectacle Of Eclectic Rock
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 29 March 1992
For a while it looked like The Jesus and Mary Chain had slipped into the ‘where are they now? file. "We’re lazy bastards," says William ...
Faith No More: God, The Devil And All The Rest
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 7 June 1992
Despite starting out as an anti-people band, Faith No More's last album, 1989's The Real Thing, has sold millions, even though its baroque, doom-laden fusion ...
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 9 June 1992
"WHEN WE STARTED the group, we felt that people were starved for music which allowed them to let themselves go," says Brett Anderson, Suede's 24-year-old ...
The Verve: Richard Ashcroft: Having The Verve To Become Unashamedly Epic
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 26 July 1992
"When you live in a place like Wigan, your senses aren't exactly bombarded with stimuli," says Richard Ashcroft, lead singer of Verve. "So when you ...
The Cure: The Boy Who Won't Grow Up
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 15 November 1992
THE CURE are probably the world's biggest cult band. Alone of all the British bands born of punk, they've attained huge success without drastically watering ...
Dinosaur Jr: Lazy Doing Something
Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 31 January 1993
IN NORTH America, "slackers" have entered mainstream consciousness, with the success of Richard Linklater's Slacker movie, Doug Coupland's book Generation X and, above all, Nirvana's ...
Donald Fagen: Steely Don is no fly-by-night
Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 9 May 1993
With their jazz-tinged soft-rock and mordant lyrics, Steely Dan were critics' favourites and a staple of FM radio throughout the Seventies. ...
The Undertones: Sounding Out Stroke City
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 11 July 1993
The pop star's tale: Michael Bradley has lived most of his life in the thick of the Troubles — but he has not let them ...
Nirvana: Sounds Dirty: The Truth About Nirvana
Report and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 15 August 1993
SITUATED ON 51st Street and Broadway, in the heart of the old entertainment area, Roseland is a New York institution. In the 1920s it was ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, January 1994
ON THE DRIZZLY Monday morning before Christmas, I'm sitting in an oak-panelled room in deepest Wiltshire, awaiting the entrance of the owner of a Jacobean ...
Nirvana: The Death of Kurt Cobain
Report by Jon Savage, The Observer, 24 July 1994
DEPENDING ON your view of the afterlife, suicide may or may not be the solution to a life that has become unbearable. For ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 18 September 1994
Muzak is hip: Simon Reynolds meets Stereolab, easy-listening revolutionaries ...
Goldie: Tales From The Dark Side
Profile and Interview by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 23 October 1994
Simon Reynolds meets Goldie, pioneering king of ambient jungle ...
The Bay City Rollers: Bay City Rollers: About Men, About Women
Book Excerpt by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 6 November 1994
Sheryl Garratt blushes to recall the badges, banners and hystericaleuphoria of belonging to a teenybopper gang — but mourns thesense of togetherness lost when real ...
Randy Newman: London, Theatre Royal
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 20 November 1994
IT'S HARD to believe that in 1968 Randy Newman claimed he was "very rarely propelled by any great desire to perform live". Especially hard when ...
Morrissey: The King of Bedsit Angst Grows Up
Profile by Will Self, The Observer, 1995
Heaven knows he was miserable then. Morrissey was the archetypal mixed-up young man: anti-fun, seemingly tortured by his sexuality, with a detached and ironic worldview. ...
Janet Jackson: Behind Those Sphinx-like Eyes: Janet Jackson
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, April 1995
"THIS IS A STORY ABOUT CONTROL," whispered the 19-year-old Janet Jackson at the start of her breakthrough album, Control, in 1986. "It’s all about control, ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 22 October 1995
Hip, maverick rapper Tricky talks exclusively about the dark reality that inspires his music ...
The Stone Roses: War of the Roses
Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Observer, 3 December 1995
John Squire of The Stone Roses talks exclusively to Lisa Verrico about why the band that almost broke up is back. ...
East 17, The Human League: Mistletoe and Whine
Report by Susan Corrigan, The Observer, 17 December 1995
Schmaltz, schlock: and Slade. It's Christmas at Top Of The Pops and there's no need to be afraid ...
Obituary by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 1996
No one knows exactly when Ann Beverley died. Even the South Derbyshire coroner wasn’t detained by that particular detail. ...
Oasis: Feeling Supersonic, Going Stratospheric
Report by Lisa Verrico, The Observer, 14 January 1996
TO SIGNAL The White Room's return for a new series, a special New Year's eve edition was recorded three days before Christmas. Despite featuring David ...
Iceberg Slim: Needles and Pimps
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 12 May 1996
Sean O'Hagan chills out on Iceberg Slim, king of the ghetto ...
Interview by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, June 1996
WHEN THE Grateful Dead’s Jerry Garcia died last year, a whole era of rock’n’roll seemed to be drawing to a close. Many people assumed this ...
The Clash, Sex Pistols, Sid Vicious: Sid Vicious: Disgusting of Tunbridge Wells
Essay by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 23 June 1996
Pete Silverton was busy celebrating his 21st with aunties and uncles, and the promise of a pewter mug. Then who should turn up but Sid ...
Elton John: My life with the Rocket man
Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 30 June 1996
Katharine Hepburn in the swimming pool and Stevie Wonder locked in the loo. Just two more problems for Elton John's former PR, Caroline Boucher ...
Report and Interview by William Shaw, The Observer, 7 July 1996
New York can lay claim to having invented rap, but LA has violently rewritten the rules. William Shaw charts an increasingly bitter rivalry ...
Waiting For The Sun: The Story Of The Los Angeles Music Scene by Barney Hoskyns (Viking £20)
Book Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 21 July 1996
Weird scenes inside the goldmine ...
Bob Geldof, Michael Hutchence: Paula Yates: She's Daft — But Not Wicked
Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 29 September 1996
THE QUESTION begs: Is Paula Yates still wearing her 'Little Miss Trouble' T-shirt — or is it wearing her? It has been a tough week ...
The Beatles: Copyright: Pepper corn
Interview by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 23 March 1997
ONE OF the most famous album covers of all time is about to become the subject of bitter legal wrangling. Peter Blake, 64, designed the ...
Retrospective and Interview by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 4 May 1997
The song that makes bad dancers worse. ...
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 18 May 1997
Just wanna hear girls talk? ...
The Seahorses, The Stone Roses: He was a Stone Rose. Now he's a Seahorse (and Noel loves him)
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 25 May 1997
"JOHN'S GOT a really good band there. A year from now, we're going to be talking about one of the biggest bands in Britain, without ...
Oasis, U2: U2, Oasis: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland CA
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 22 June 1997
Last week, Oasis played to a stadium of American U2 fans. There's dedication... ...
Elvis Presley: Elvis's first love: The King and I
Interview by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 6 July 1997
THE NIGHT before I met June Juanico, the woman Elvis Presley nearly married in 1957, I got talking to a man named Bayard in a ...
Aretha Franklin: The Rockport Rhythm and Blues Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport RI
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 10 August 1997
Aretha's having a bad hair day. But she's got some very good wings ...
Elvis Presley, Leiber and Stoller: Elvis, homoeroticism and 'Jailhouse Rock'
Essay by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 10 August 1997
'Oh yes,' said Stanley, a builder - though not a man known ever to have displayed his bum cleavage beyond the privacy of his own ...
Captain Beefheart: The Artist Formerly Known as Captain Beefheart (Dir. Elaine Shepherd, BB2)
Film/DVD/TV Review by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 17 August 1997
WE AT the Observer can boast a couple of ancient links with Captain Beefheart, subject of tonight's Rock Cults programme, The Artist Formerly Known as ...
Primal Scream, The Prodigy: The Prodigy, Primal Scream: Glasgow Green, Glasgow
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 31 August 1997
They're like the Sex Pistols. Via Mothercare ...
Bob Dylan: Dylan, God's Gift to the Pope
Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 28 September 1997
YESTERDAY BOB DYLAN, rock outlaw turned born-again believer, performed for the Pope at the World Eucharist Congress in Bologna. ...
Lydia Lunch: Paradoxia – A Predator's Diary (Creation Books)
Book Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 2 November 1997
Gentlemen, you have been warned — Lydia Lunch isn't for wimps ...
Peter Andre: We know it's chilly. But where was his six-pack when the lights went on?
Report by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 9 November 1997
I AM TRAVELLING to Radio One in the back of a white limo with teen pop sensation Peter Andre, his PR, a camera crew, the ...
The NME: Days of Guns and Roses
Memoir by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 9 November 1997
IF MUSIC BE the food of love then the New Musical Express is, has always been, chips with everything. Part of its unique charm is ...
Björk: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 16 November 1997
They are not worthy. But neither is she ...
Bob Geldof, Michael Hutchence: Whatever Happened to Saint Bob?
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 30 November 1997
He fed the world. Now the world is feeding on him... ...
Chris Rea: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 1 February 1998
Dire Rea ...
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 1 February 1998
ON 5 APRIL, 1968, when the National Guard was on full alert as America's black ghettos burnt in the wake of the assassination of Martin ...
Sinead O'Connor: Sinéad: The New Madonna
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 15 February 1998
Virgin territory ...
Meredith Brooks: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 22 February 1998
"I never get tired of hearing the bitch word" ...
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 22 March 1998
I DON'T CARE what people say about her; I think that Cerys Matthews, the lead singer of Welsh outfit Catatonia, is a really nice bloke. ...
Massive Attack: Band of the decade: Massive Attack
Overview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 29 March 1998
What is it that makes them so different? Well, one of them's called Mushroom. ...
Jimmy Page/Robert Plant: Page & Plant: Shepherds Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 29 March 1998
Page and Plant: Zep live again ...
George Michael, Solo Artist: Flash in the Pan
Profile by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 12 April 1998
ON TUESDAY this week, one Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, 34, was arrested for "lewd conduct" in a public toilet in Beverly Hills, only a few blocks ...
Frank Sinatra: Sinatra's 'My Way'
Essay by Peter Silverton, The Observer, 17 May 1998
As songs go, 'My Way' doesn't so much wear its heart on its sleeve as rip it from its chest, throw it down and shout: ...
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 24 May 1998
"The more comfortable I get with my sexuality, the less it leaks all over the place" ...
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 24 May 1998
THE PHONE rings at 10.30 on a Monday night. It is Bono. "We're going to Belfast tomorrow night," he says, "and we're trying to come ...
Willie Nelson: Interview: Willie Nelson
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 31 May 1998
The songs come out of suffering. Like being beaten senseless with his wife's broom... ...
Boomtown Rats, The Rolling Stones, Shed Seven: It's an ugly business
Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 21 June 1998
Pop rant: Why do male rock stars have faces like bags of spanners? ...
Report by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 5 July 1998
AND SO, INEVITABLY, it has come to this. In a teeming beer tent near to the main Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, Paddy is crouched over ...
Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 25 October 1998
They live a rock-and-roll lifestyle but are hung-up about virginity. They act like grown-ups but keep their clothes in baskets with schoolboy name-tags on them. ...
Kurt Cobain, Hole, Courtney Love: Love and death and the Hole damn thing...
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 15 November 1998
It is four years since Kurt Cobain's suicide, but it is what people remember about Courtney Love. Yet she has her band, her Hollywood career ...
Marilyn Manson: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 20 December 1998
Satan's little helper ...
Dusty Springfield: You Started Something: Dusty Springfield
Profile and Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Observer, 21 February 1999
Dusty Springfield, now battling with cancer, is finally being recognized as the first queen of Britpop after 40 years in the business. ...
Dusty Springfield: My Date with Dusty
Memoir by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 7 March 1999
Britain's first lady of soul had chosen us to make what was to be her last video. We'd found the perfect location, we'd borrowed a ...
All Saints: Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 25 April 1999
Girl Power cut ...
Metallica: Classic Metal: Metallica
Report and Interview by David Bennun, The Observer, 9 May 1999
LIKE MOST things in this California college town, including the people, Berkeley's Community Theatre has changed little since the '60s. Its rust-brown auditorium and green ...
Geri Halliwell, George Michael, Spice Girls: Geri: life after spice
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 6 June 1999
Once, she was known to the world as Ginger, the sassiest, loudest Spice Girl. Now, she's grown up, grown out the red, and is ready ...
Lee Hazlewood: The Return of Nancy's Boy
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 13 June 1999
NEW YORK CROWDS don't get much hipper than this. The women look either like a young Patti Smith or Marianne Faithfull circa Girl On A ...
R.E.M.: Pavilhao Atlantico,Lisbon
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 20 June 1999
Will R.E.M. prove to be worthy headliners at Worthy Farm? Barbara Ellen sees the band in Portugal ...
The Agony of "Soft" Ecstasy is in the Price That Others Have To Pay
Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 20 June 1999
ME AND ECSTASY had this fling once. What chemical virgins don't realise is that, for most of us, getting attached to a certain drug is ...
Tim Westwood: White Lies, Black Truth
Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 25 July 1999
A FRIEND OF mine was at the Notting Hill carnival a couple of years ago, and happened to catch Radio 1 DJ Tim Westwood in ...
Spice Girls, Thunderbugs: Girls on top
Report by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 22 August 1999
After Spice, all-girl groups are dominating the charts. They're successful, but who's got the power? ...
Beck: Being For the Benefit of Mr. Hansen
Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, September 1999
THE GANG’S all here: Yoko Ono and Gwyneth Paltrow, Lou Reed and Laurie Anderson, Kate Moss and Evan Dando. All have ventured out on a ...
Everything But The Girl: Girl trouble
Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 12 September 1999
Everything But The Girl have been through a lot in the past two decades — folk, jazz, MOR, drum'n'bass... oh, and life-threatening illness and parenthood, ...
Nitin Sawhney : The Outsider: Nitin Sawhney
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 19 September 1999
Nitin Sawhney says he feels like a stranger in England, where he was born, and in India, the land of his parents. The tension has ...
Interview by David Bennun, The Observer, 3 October 1999
AS REGENCY drawing rooms go, this one is on the largish side but, at first sight, perfectly ordinary. ...
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 31 October 1999
Both "spokesmen" for their respective generations, it's perhaps unsurprising that the men behind the Jam and Oasis became friends. Here, they talk frankly together for ...
Live Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 14 November 1999
Sloppy and unpopular. That's trailer trash for you ...
Brits Go Home! The End of the Invasion
Overview by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 2000
AMID ALL the self-congratulatory hubbub over the British successes at the Oscars, few people stopped to reflect that luvvie wonderboy Sam Mendes hadn't actually made ...
Tupac Shakur: Life and Death in South Central LA
Book Excerpt by William Shaw, The Observer, 9 January 2000
South Central Los Angeles is notorious both for its violent gang warfare and for the gangsta rap that celebrates it, yet the media rarely ventures ...
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 16 January 2000
From drifting astronaut to Ziggy Stardust to Thin White Duke and actor...the Brixton boy worth £500 million and with his own Internet bank is bringing ...
The KLF: Burning question: The KLF
Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 13 February 2000
Why did Bill Drummond set fire to £1 million? Why did he want to chop off his own hand on stage? And why did the ...
U2: Billion-Dollar Dreams (Part 1)
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 March 2000
German TV interviewer: "You own a hotel. Now, you've made a film about a hotel. Why hotels?" Bono: "Rock bands tend to know a ...
Ian Dury, Kilburn & The High Roads: Ian Dury 1942 - 2000
Obituary by Charlie Gillett, The Observer, 29 March 2000
THE FIRST TIME I saw Ian Dury was at the Tally Ho in Kentish Town in 1972, when he had just started to play in ...
Three Lions: Fat Les and 'Jerusalem'
Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 21 May 2000
After scoring with their World Cup hit 'Vindaloo', Damien Hirst, Keith Allen and Alex James are back with the official song for Euro 2000. But ...
Profile and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 9 July 2000
Charlie Watts has always marched to a different drum than the rest of the Rolling Stones. He has been happily married for 36 years, he ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 22 July 2000
The Corrs have been keeping it in the family for 10 slow-burning years, and are now emerging as the ultimate cute-and-catchy pop band. Sibling pop ...
Caroline Coon: Still fighting the bad guys
Profile and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 30 July 2000
In the '60s, Caroline Coon was famous for helping people caught in drugs busts. In the '90s she defended her right to paint penises. Now, ...
Bleachin': Jeremy Healy and Amos Pizzey: Club Class
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 13 August 2000
Guest lists and free champagne, bright cocaine nights and dark, empty comedowns... Jeremy Healy and Amos Pizzey have the power to pack dance floors everywhere ...
Book Review by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 3 September 2000
THE WOMAN THE world remembers as kohl-eyed, bouffant-haired, nightingale-voiced Dusty Springfield was actually born Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien in 1939. ...
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 28 September 2000
IN THE SUMMER of 1990, I was in New York for the New Music Seminar, as were many of the UK's emerging new DJs and ...
Radiohead: Sound and Fury: Radiohead
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 1 October 2000
IN THE EARLY '90S, you knew you'd arrived as a rock group the day you made it on to MTV and the Beavis & Butthead ...
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 15 October 2000
"I was a rigid punk rock Marxist. Then I was a rigid vegan dance music Christian." Today, he's loosened up and become one of the ...
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 22 October 2000
'RINSE IT OUT for us, mate!' The bag being handed over in the foyer of this small but bustling recording studio is not full of ...
Leeroy Thornhill: A Prodigy Returns
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 18 February 2001
THERE WAS A tendency for bands coming out of the acid house club explosion to have dancers – Cressa in the Stone Roses, Bez with ...
Will Oldham: The Prince Of Darkness
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 12 March 2001
"I created Billy and let him take care of the performing. It's not me, Will Oldham, who gets up on stage." ...
Manic Street Preachers: Our Manics in Havana: Manic Street Preachers
Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 18 March 2001
THURSDAY MORNING and the short journey to the national radio station affords a first look at Havana, which turns out to be exactly what I ...
Nick Cave: Rage Has Not Withered Him
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 18 March 2001
Nick Cave never thought he'd get past 40, but heroin and self-hate are behind him now. Married and "reborn", he writes nine to five in ...
Alabama 3: Underworld, London NW1
Live Review by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 25 March 2001
A shambolic and inspiring band prove that Alabama is a state of mind ...
Bob Dylan: Well, How Does It Feel?
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 25 March 2001
There's only one person in pop who is not fascinated by the myth of Bob Dylan – and that's Bob Dylan. Now approaching sixty and ...
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 25 March 2001
He was on stage by five, on tour by eight and receiving 50,000 fan letters a week by 13. But behind his success lay loneliness, ...
Ronan Keating: Mad about the boy
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 8 April 2001
Ronan Keating is the blue-eyed blond who stole the heart of every schoolgirl in the country with Boyzone. Now, he's going it alone and is ...
Sigur Ros: So good they make you vomit
Report and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 15 April 2001
ON THE OTHER side of the door is a sprawling south London estate gathered round an old factory turned business park, as oppressive an environment ...
Syd Barrett: Disappearances Can Be Deceptive
Report by Tom Cox, The Observer, 22 April 2001
THERE ARE PROBABLY better places in the world to go to become invisible than Cambridge, but perhaps not if you are an ex-rock star with ...
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 20 May 2001
Dido was always an outsider: the girl with ratatouille on rye packed lunches at school, who wished she'd been christened Claire. Now, thanks to an ...
Comment by Tom Cox, The Observer, 20 May 2001
IN AN ERA WHEN pop carries scant mystery and every 'best ever' list imaginable seems to have been compiled, the term 'lost classic' has so ...
Goldie: Walford gets its golden boy
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 17 June 2001
Goldie is in Eastenders, wants to play Richard III, and then sculpt. Does the jungle star ever stop? ...
Life Support: Michael and Emily Eavis
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 24 June 2001
Michael Eavis, founder of the Glastonbury Festival – taking a rest this year – and his youngest daughter Emily. ...
Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 24 June 2001
IT'S 7AM AND the tall, pretty young woman I'm watching work has clearly not been out of bed too long. Her blonde hair is tied ...
Report by Simon Garfield, The Observer, 1 July 2001
Chris Evans's departure from Virgin Radio was front page news. But for Simon Garfield, who wrote the inside story of Radio 1, the saga was ...
Did Video Kill The Radio Star? MTV 20 Years On
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 28 July 2001
"MTV makes me want to smoke crack..." (Beck, 1992) ...
Gorillaz: Hey, Hey, We're The Gorillaz
Profile by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 29 July 2001
IN ITS TENTH year now, the £20,000 Mercury Music Prize is awarded every September to the best British album. Chosen by a panel of critics, ...
Paul McCartney: He Loves Her Yeah Yeah Yeah
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, The Observer, 29 July 2001
PAUL McCARTNEY has always been known for his broad, boyish smile, but the ear-splitting grin he sported last week while announcing his engagement to Heather ...
Missy Elliott: Missy in Action: Missy Elliott
Profile and Interview by Ted Kessler, The Observer, 5 August 2001
As a child, Missy Elliott sent daily letters and tapes to her heroes Michael and Janet Jackson, asking them to save her from abuse and ...
Report by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 26 August 2001
IT'S A WARM Sunday afternoon, and I'm stretched out on the grass watching white clouds blow across blue sky, while Norman Jay plays some of ...
Obituary by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 2 September 2001
AALIYAH DANA HAUGHTON was just 22 when she died last Saturday in a plane crash in The Bahamas, but she'd already been famous for seven ...
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 9 September 2001
IT'S A HOT summer afternoon, Tom Findlay and Andy Cato have cold beers, and we're all sitting on a terrace in west London overlooking the ...
Kylie Minogue: The Showgirl Must Go On
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 23 September 2001
Kylie Minogue won't discuss her personal life, but after 17 dizzy years as soap starlet, pop princess, gay icon and Barbie Doll, she's starting to ...
Vincent Gallo: Buffalo Boy: Vincent Gallo
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 30 September 2001
He's a self-confessed sexual compulsive, a teetotal right-wing extremist who made the hit movie Buffalo 66. Andrew Smith meets Vincent Gallo, painter, actor, model, director, ...
Interview by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 14 October 2001
After babies and break-up, Lamb have grown up. ...
Robbie Williams: Royal Albert Hall, London
Live Review by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 14 October 2001
WHAT A SWELL party it was. Not being an opera fan, I don't often see 3,500 people in black tie and evening gowns. It's a ...
Overview by Tom Cox, The Observer, 21 October 2001
Country has gone way beyond Nashville, says Tom Cox. It's the new rebel music. ...
Yoko Ono: Just imagine: Yoko Ono
Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 4 November 2001
In the '60s, Yoko Ono married John Lennon and campaigned for peace in Vietnam. More than 30 years on, she's still irrevocably linked to her ...
Macy Gray: It's a Macy, Macy world
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 18 November 2001
"She's phat, she's tight, she's outta control..." It was supposed to be a routine celebrity interview, but it ended in a jet-ski chase across the ...
So Solid Crew: Ghetto Blasters: So Solid Crew
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 25 November 2001
SHOTS RANG OUT and a man collapsed in a heap near the dance floor. Another lay slumped, bleeding profusely, in a doorway near the toilet. ...
Pulp: In a Class of His Own: Jarvis Cocker
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 December 2001
Jarvis Cocker could have been trapped in his role of English eccentric, a blend of Morrissey, Ray Davies and Alan Bennett. But he has found ...
The Strokes: Great White Hopes
Report and Interview by Ted Kessler, The Observer, 16 December 2001
Twelve months ago they were an unheard of indie band. Today, they're being compared to the Rolling Stones. Ted Kessler goes on the road in ...
Pop Idol: Idols Made In Our Own Image
Comment by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 3 February 2002
AND THEN THERE were two... Last night's penultimate episode of the latest 'water-cooler TV' left only two hopefuls, Gareth Gates and Will Young, remaining from ...
The Hives: The Junction, Cambridge
Live Review by Tom Cox, The Observer, 10 February 2002
The Hives put on a fine imitation of garage rock. And the garage is where it would be best appreciated ...
Profile and Interview by Andrew Smith, The Observer, 10 March 2002
As Britpop's queen, she had everything: In Elastica, she had a best-selling group and in Damon Albarn, a boyfriend lusted after by thousands. But then ...
Jools Holland: A little man goes a long way
Comment by Tom Cox, The Observer, 7 April 2002
Jools Holland can't sing and he isn't funny, so why exactly is he so successful and compelling? ...
Eminem: Mean, Moody And Magnificent: Eminem
Profile by Charles Shaar Murray, The Observer, 12 May 2002
IT'S BEEN too damn quiet, Carruthers. With the upper echelons of the pop scene currently dominated by the industry's endless cavalcade of squeaky-clean teen puppets, ...
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 9 June 2002
After 35 years in the business and endless ch-ch-ch-changes, David Bowie, rock'n'roll's archetypal chameleon, has finally found equilibrium as a clean-living family man. Tim Cooper ...
Oasis: Liam Gallagher: Mad for it
Interview by Ted Kessler, The Observer, 16 June 2002
Liam Gallagher has it all: the looks, the voice, the blondes, the tabloid headlines. So why is the new album his last chance of rock ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 23 June 2002
It's a long way from illegal raves to Buckingham Palace. But Norman Jay, the godfather of club culture, has been there and done that – ...
Review by Craig McLean, The Observer, 23 June 2002
Noel and Liam — unchained ...
Muddy Waters: Robert Gordon: Can't Be Satisfied: The Life and Times of Muddy Waters (Jonathan Cape)
Book Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, July 2002
The ONE-ROOM shack where Muddy Waters grew up originally stood on the edge of Stovall's plantation in Coahoma County in the Mississippi Delta. A few ...
George Michael: Who's a Cheeky Boy?
Comment by Charles Shaar Murray, The Observer, 7 July 2002
'WITH THE RELEASE of his George Bush and Cherie Blair-referencing new single,' snickers the Popbitch website, 'we would like to commiserate with George Michael on ...
Interview by Ted Kessler, The Observer, 14 July 2002
As a schoolgirl she drove the nuns crazy with her belly dancing, now she's got the world gyrating. Ted Kessler meets Shakira, the Colombian superstar ...
Interview by Ted Kessler, The Observer, 28 July 2002
He worries about his hair, he worries about women and he worries about death. Chris Martin even worries about worrying. But with the launch of ...
Sinead O'Connor: Mother Superior
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 6 October 2002
A mellow Sinead O'Connor, who describes herself as 'a regular housewife', talks about ordination, her flair for getting into trouble – and why she's more ...
Alabama 3: London's Scariest Band: Alabama 3
Report and Interview by Will Self, The Observer, November 2002
IF YOU LIKE seriously deranged, outrageously danceable and indisputably subversive music, then clear your diary for December 1st when the Alabama 3 play the Astoria. ...
Eminem: Marshall Mathers, Movie Star: Eminem in 8 Mile
Report by Edward Helmore, The Observer, November 2002
THREE YEARS AGO he was the foul-mouthed scourge of parents everywhere. A sulky, misogynistic, homophobic, mother-hating all-round bad influence. A white-trash Negro. A true punk ...
Profile and Interview by Tim Cooper, The Observer, 3 November 2002
He has immaculate manners, he likes hugging his fans and his worst vice is cookie dough ice cream... Small wonder America loves Craig David. Tim ...
Will Oldham: Still Voice, Distant Life: Will Oldham
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 17 November 2002
He’s the finest songwriter to come out of America in the past decade. Just ask Johnny Cash. But Will Oldham doesn’t play the fame game. ...
Pulp: Pulp: Je Suis Un Rock Star...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 22 December 2002
IN THE BBC CANTEEN, where passing celebrity chefs must recoil before a menu that has stubbornly resisted the onward march of culinary ponciness, Jarvis Cocker ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 15 June 2003
THERE ARE TEARS in Patti Smith's eyes. She is midway through a performance that has been, by turns, sombre and joyous, intense and ecstatic, when ...
Ian MacDonald: The People's Music - Selected Journalism (Pimlico)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, July 2003
BROADLY SPEAKING there are three kinds of British rock writers: boring ones, brash ones, and genuinely bright ones. Somehow it's typical of our anti-intellectual culture ...
Profile and Interview by Simon Garfield, The Observer, September 2003
FOR A FEW weeks in the middle of summer it was easier to see Jamie Cullum in concert than not to see him. ...
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 21 September 2003
THREE HOURS before I am left alone in a press-office antechamber with Britain's only copy of Room on Fire, something very important happens on the ...
Emmylou Harris: Angel of the South: Emmylou Harris
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 November 2003
IN A LONG BLACK dress, high heels and perfectly coiffured hair that shines silver blue under the spotlights, Emmylou Harris looks every inch the country ...
Missy Elliott: This is Not a Test
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 16 November 2003
WAY BACK IN 1997, when Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott launched her debut album Supa Dupa Fly with the touching dedication "To my mom... I would not ...
Report and Interview by Tom Cox, The Observer, 14 December 2003
"IT'S GOING TO BE a bit like having sex in front of your parents – you know, that moment when you're a teenager and you've ...
Carla Bruni: Quelqu'un m'a dit (V2)
Review by Charlie Gillett, The Observer, 2004
MAYBE YOU KNOW her name. I didn't when I first played songs from this album several times on the radio last year,, until a ...
Dizzee Rascal: Boy In Da Corner
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 2004
PRECOCIOUS BOW roughneck Dylan Mills knocked up his first single (scabrous teen pregnancy shocker 'I Luv You') in downtime from his school music class at ...
Nirvana, Sid Vicious: Kurt Cobain and Sid Vicious: Death and Glory
Essay by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 1 February 2004
"Thank you all from the pit of my burning nauseous stomach." – Extract from Kurt Cobain's suicide note ...
Nik Cohn and Guy Peellaert: Rock Dreams (Taschen)
Book Review by Charles Shaar Murray, The Observer, 22 February 2004
Charles Shaar Murray sees the Rolling Stones lose their minds – as well as their trousers – in a classic work of the imagination. ...
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 22 February 2004
FIRST THINGS FIRST. The 15 songs that Louisville Kentucky singer-songwriter Will Oldham has chosen to reinterpret here (originally featured on three albums, an EP, a ...
Retrospective and Interview by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 28 March 2004
The Observer's TV critic, Kathryn Flett, was among the first readers of The Face, and later became its features and fashion editor. Here she mourns ...
Profile by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 April 2004
LAST WEEKEND, tickets for the opening show of Prince's American arena tour, his first in nearly a decade, were changing hands over the internet for ...
The Streets: Dead Cert: The Streets
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 25 April 2004
'I LOVE THE NAME "The Streets",' muses 24 year-old Mike Skinner - at once the mercurial creative-director, canny CEO and flaky spokesmodel of that thriving ...
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 May 2004
Rock'n'roll has come a long way in the half-century since Elvis first stepped up to the microphone at Sun Studios. Here we choose 50 moments ...
Cher's Farewell Tour: Glasgow SECC
Live Review by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 16 May 2004
"WILL IT START when all the people with tickets are in?" whispers the girl seated behind me at the Glasgow SECC, venue for the first ...
Youssou N'Dour: A Song and a Prayer
Profile and Interview by Mark Hudson, The Observer, 23 May 2004
As the first superstar of world music, Youssou N'Dour has consistently sought to reconcile Africa and the West, but his most personal record yet is ...
Nick Drake: Bryter Later (Island, 1970)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, June 2004
THE CULT OF Nick Drake, posh Lost Boy of post-folk singer-songwriting, shows little sign of abating. That’s because his mellow, Colin Blunstone-ish burr of a ...
The Rolling Stones: Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main St.
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, June 2004
STICKY FINGERS has always been taken for granted. Fans and critics alike have drooled for decades over Let It Bleed and Exile on Main St., ...
New York Dolls: The New York Dolls: Fast and Louche
Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 20 June 2004
The New York Dolls: Royal Festival Hall, London ...
Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 20 June 2004
RECORDED in New York over two days in 1968, Astral Weeks still sounds like nothing before or since. Unlike other classic albums, Pet Sounds, say, ...
The Blue Nile: High (Sanctuary)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, July 2004
ANYONE WHO loves the Blue Nile as much as I do will know there is something profoundly holy about their music. Twenty years after the ...
Girls Aloud, Sugababes: Xenomania: Heart Of The Country, Home Of The Hits
Profile and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 18 July 2004
In rural Kent, the future of British pop is being shaped by Brian Higgins – a Phil Spector for the 21st century. Ben Thompson meets ...
Youssou N'Dour: Egypt (Nonesuch)
Review by Charlie Gillett, The Observer, 18 July 2004
THIS BEAUTIFUL record is a new album by Youssou N'Dour, but it is not 'the new Youssou N'Dour album'. We have had one of those ...
Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 19 September 2004
The piano in the sand pit, the orchestra decked out in fireman's helmets, the kilos of grade A hashish, the master tapes that were destroyed, ...
Report and Interview by Simon Garfield, The Observer, 3 October 2004
He's a white DJ who became the most powerful European voice in hardcore hip-hop. Here, on the 10th anniversary of his Radio 1 show, Tim ...
Review by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 17 October 2004
IT'S OBVIOUSLY entirely unfair to treat the popular artistes Kylie Minogue and Britney Spears as conjoined twins, forcing them to share the same review (would ...
Kings of Leon: A-Ha Shake Heartbreak
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 17 October 2004
AS WITH SO many of the best second albums - from Roxy Music's For Your Pleasure to Dizzee Rascal's Showtime - the first time you ...
Bob Geldof: Live Aid: The View From The Pitch
Memoir by Pete Paphides, The Observer, 17 October 2004
Nothing was going to stop a schoolboy fan of the Boomtown Rats making it to Wembley on that fateful day. Peter Paphides recalls every high ...
Interview by Chris Campion, The Observer, 14 November 2004
In the troubled ganglands of Compton, Los Angeles, Chris Campion meets the new future of hip hop. ...
Judee Sill: Heart Food and Dark Peace: Judee Sill
Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 12 December 2004
This is an expanded version of "The Lost Child", published in The Observer Music Monthly. ...
Queens of the Stone Age: Lullabies to Paralyze
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 20 February 2005
CANNED HEAT without the weight problem, ZZ Top without the tacky '80s gloss, Nirvana if Nevermind hadn't grown so big it blocked the road to ...
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 24 April 2005
Dizzee's ex-grime crew discover pop. Ben Thompson is pleased ...
Circulus: If You Go Down to the Woods Today
Profile and Interview by Tom Cox, The Observer, 19 June 2005
If you go down to the woods today... then you're sure to meet Britain's finest neo-medieval psychedelic folk-rock band. Or you are if you're author ...
Review and Interview by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 3 July 2005
SANDWICHED BETWEEN Glastonbury and Live8, it is fair to say that the Hastings Beer and Music Festival was never going to be the biggest date ...
Coldplay, Bob Geldof: Live8: Less global jukebox, more local radio
Live Review by Kathryn Flett, The Observer, 3 July 2005
AS THE LIVE8 afternoon shift got under way, it was soon clear that, although the BBC must have been rubbing their hands at the prospect ...
Super Furry Animals: Love Kraft
Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, August 2005
THE FIRST SOUND on Love Kraft is a splash caused by Super Furry Animals guitarist Huw "Bunf" Bunford plunging into a Spanish swimming pool. An ...
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 21 August 2005
A ROBE-FREE polyphonic spree, a depoliticised Godspeed! You Black Emperor, a less unforgivably insipid Talk Talk, Mogwai with the heavy metal taken out, the Cocteau ...
Bettye LaVette: Betty LaVette: I've Got My Own Hell to Raise (Anti)
Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, September 2005
PREVIOUSLY KNOWN only to fanatical followers of obscure deep soul, the legendary Ms LaVette belatedly comes in for a Joe Henry tune-up on this feisty, ...
Bob Mould: Bob's Their Uncle: Bob Mould, Mean Fiddler, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 11 September 2005
THE MEAN FIDDLER is thick with black T-shirts, shaven heads and heavy spirals of smoke — from onstage behind Bob Mould and the cigarettes being ...
Animal Collective: Feels (FatCat) ****
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 16 October 2005
Ben Thompson admires the furry friends who refuse to operate in a confined area ...
Mary J. Blige: The Drama of Being Mary J. Blige
Profile by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, November 2005
"WE LOVE YOU, MARY!" The shouts float up from isolated pockets in the plush auditorium housed within Columbus Circle's glitzy Time Warner building. Mary J. ...
Nik Cohn: Triksta – Life and Death and New Orleans Rap
Book Review by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 11 December 2005
Nik Cohn tells how the alienation and anger of New Orleans exploded into a whole new genre of hip hop in his best book yet. ...
Interview by Simon Garfield, The Observer, 5 February 2006
PRECISELY FOUR-and-a-half hours after a film about her father, mother and stepmother was nominated for five Oscars, Rosanne Cash walks into the Nicole Farhi store ...
Ronnie Spector: Ronnie's Spectre
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 26 March 2006
RONNIE SPECTOR Greenfield strolls into the nondescript foyer of the Sheraton hotel in Danbury, Connecticut, a few paces behind her husband, Jonathan. ...
Review by Paul Morley, The Observer, 21 May 2006
The style-mag favourites walk the irony tightrope with their airy electro-pop. Paul Morley applauds from the stalls ...
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 4 June 2006
"Opinionated" barely begins to cover it. Barbara Ellen meets the ballsy, bolshy pop star who has refreshingly barbed advice for Prince William, the Queen, shallow ...
Review by Simon Reynolds, The Observer, 18 June 2006
Dubstep has finally thrown up an album that will work in your living room. Simon Reynolds soaks up the ambience. ...
ECM, World Circuit, Topic: Groove Is In Their Hearts
Report by Mark Hudson, The Observer, 13 August 2006
In the corporate world of modern music, some niche labels still thrive through their passion and commitment. As jazz pioneer ECM reaches its 1,000th release ...
The Who: Generation Terrorists
Profile and Interview by Simon Garfield, The Observer, September 2006
It seemed like it was all over for the Who. But solo projects and trout fishing will only get you so far. ...
All Saints: Saintlier than thou
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 5 November 2006
Older and wiser after their acrimonious split, Britain's bitchiest girl group are back together — as friends, mums and bandmates. ...
The Good Bad & The Queen: The Good, the Bad & the Queen: The Good, the Bad & the Queen
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 21 January 2007
WHAT IS IT ABOUT the clunky phrase "the good, the bad & the queen" that made Damon Albarn want to use it as both the ...
Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeves: The Lost Art of the Mix Tape
Memoir by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 28 January 2007
LAST WEEK, while preparing to write this piece, I did something I have not done for a long time. I made a compilation tape. Back ...
Kings of Leon: Because of the Times *****
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 18 March 2007
It's not all their own work, but the lank-haired rockers' third set does more than merely ape their influences, raves Ben Thompson ...
Arctic Monkeys: Favourite Worst Nightmare
Review by Jon Savage, The Observer, 22 April 2007
Don't be fooled by their common touch: the cheeky chimps are special. Jon Savage hears them make sense of the modern world ...
Interview by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 22 April 2007
Dizzee Rascal is not proud of everything in his past, he tells Ben Thompson in a remarkably frank interview. But he's more than happy with ...
Ozzy Osbourne: Lord of the Wings
Profile and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 20 May 2007
He has snorted ants, tried to throttle his wife and bit the head off a bat. But now, Ozzy Osbourne tells Barbara Ellen, he is ...
The Young Gods: Super Ready/Fragmenté
Review by Chris Campion, The Observer, 20 May 2007
The influential Swiss trio stick to their simple, brutally effective principles on this ninth album ...
Sly & the Family Stone: Sly Stone: I Want To Take You... Lower
Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 15 July 2007
Sly Stone was the funkadelic pioneer who made the world dance, broke racial boundaries, raised hell and set Woodstock alight. Last week, in Italy, after ...
The Police: Miles Copeland: Where's the Police chief?
Report and Interview by Chris Campion, The Observer, 2 September 2007
AS THE POLICE prepare to finally hit home turf on their reunion tour, one figure conspicuously absent from all the reappraisals of their career is ...
Hot Chip: Made in the Dark ****
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 20 January 2008
You might know them as pop nerds, but Ben Thompson just loves their power ballads ...
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 20 April 2008
Thanks to her henchmen, writes Ben Thompson, the shameless idol still has much to give ...
Review by Charlie Gillett, The Observer, 20 April 2008
THERE ARE times, listening to this album, you start to feel guilty – surely, if music sounds this good, it must be bad for you. ...
Report and Interview by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 15 June 2008
Suddenly indie rockers are embracing African sounds. Could the long years of a cultural apartheid be coming to a close, asks Ben Thompson ...
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 7 September 2008
Glasvegas are being touted as the new Oasis... with a twist. They're very polite to their fans ...
Estelle, John Legend: John Legend: Why His Name Is Legend
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 19 October 2008
Barack Obama is a fan of soul star John Legend, and Estelle was his protégée. Jude Rogers speaks to him in the UK for the ...
Amadou & Mariam: Welcome to Mali
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 9 November 2008
IF YOU HADN'T EVER HEARD A RECORD by this Malian husband and wife duo, but had only read of their initial meeting at Bamako's Institut ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 9 November 2008
In the sixties, he was part of the celebrated pop group the Walker Brothers – known as America's Beatles – but he rebelled against stardom ...
Profile by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 4 December 2008
She inspired Dylan, was pals with Ella, and was due to play at Obama's inauguration: Jude Rogers on Odetta Holmes. ...
Review by Graeme Thomson, The Observer, 15 March 2009
IT'S 2009, AND everything has been stripped bare: assets, confidence, reputations, lives. ...
Paolo Nutini: Sunny Side Up (Atlantic)
Review by Graeme Thomson, The Observer, 17 May 2009
PAOLO NUTINI tends to get lumped in with the James Morrisons and Blunts of this world, dismissed as a dispenser of tuneful semi-acoustic fare and ...
Janelle Monáe: Flash forward: Janelle Monáe
Report and Interview by Chris Campion, The Observer, 14 June 2009
Introducing this month's hottest talent, the android-loving future of R&B. ...
Florence and the Machine: Lungs (Island) ****
Review by Sheryl Garratt, The Observer, 14 June 2009
FOR A WHILE, former Camberwell Art School student Florence Welch tried to be the singer the record companies wanted her to be: namely, a more ...
Public Image Ltd: John Lydon: 'PiL lets me express proper emotions'
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 6 September 2009
ON CHRISTMAS DAY 1978, almost exactly a year after the implosion of the Sex Pistols while on tour in San Francisco, the artist formerly known ...
The Magazine Explosion: UK Pop Publications in the '60s
Retrospective by Jon Savage, The Observer, 6 September 2009
IT'S FEBRUARY 1963. The Beatles are No 2 in the charts with 'Please Please Me' and it's time to meet the press. An anonymous reporter ...
The Thrill Of It All: The Advent of MP3 Blogs
Essay by Nick Hornby, The Observer, 6 September 2009
MY FIRST NOVEL, High Fidelity, was published in 1995, and shortly afterwards, I embarked upon my first American book tour. I took with me a ...
Corinne Bailey Rae : Corinne Bailey Rae: "It happened to me. It could happen to anyone at any time."
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 October 2009
From out of the darkest place, following the sudden death of her husband, Corinne Bailey Rae is re-emerging with an extraordinarily intimate and impassioned album. ...
Lightning Bolt: Earthly Delights
Review by Chris Campion, The Observer, 4 October 2009
IF ONE HAD TO SUM UP LIGHTNING BOLT in two words, "awkward" and "delirious" would be as good as any. The experimental bass and drums ...
Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 31 October 2009
I DON'T KNOW ABOUT YOU, but I decided that I would not watch this particular series of The X Factor, because I thought, I'll get ...
Chipmunk, Taio Cruz, Dizzee Rascal, N-Dubz, Tinchy Stryder: N-Dubz and The Second Coming of Brit Pop
Overview by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 1 November 2009
It has been a long, rocky road for homegrown urban music in the UK, but this year N-Dubz and a close-knit group of stars have ...
Ian Dury: New chips off the old Blockhead
Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 29 November 2009
He could be warm and witty... or cruel and obnoxious. But there was never any doubt he was a true artist. We recall the life ...
Four Tet: There is Love in You (Domino)
Review by Ben Thompson, The Observer, 24 January 2010
Kieran Hebden's latest captures all that was special about dance music's mid-90s heyday ...
David Bowie, Iggy Pop: Nick Kent: Once Upon a Life
Memoir by Nick Kent, The Observer, 14 March 2010
In 1972 he was sorting mail in a Sussex post office. Twelve months later he was partying with Led Zeppelin. Here, the hugely influential music ...
Keith Moon, The Who: Boozing with Keith Moon
Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 18 April 2010
An afternoon with the Who drummer started with him putting wing mirrors on a donkey then went steadily downhill ...
Arctic Monkeys, Leona Lewis, Muse, Joanna Newsom, The xx: Schoolteachers of Rock
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 25 April 2010
What's it like to have taught someone who went on to be a pop star? The teachers of Alex Turner, Leona Lewis, the xx and ...
Marc Bolan: Brown rice with Marc Bolan
Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 15 August 2010
Hippie food in rundown Notting Hill in the early '70s. It was hardly glam… ...
Frank Zappa: Cucumber sandwiches with Frank Zappa
Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 17 October 2010
Caroline Boucher recalls afternoon tea with California's king of outrage. ...
Alice Cooper: Burgers with Alice Cooper
Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 14 November 2010
Alice had hamburger… and his snake had a couple of mice. ...
Arcade Fire: "The clichéd rock life never seemed that cool to us"
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 28 November 2010
IN A CONCRETE room backstage at the Palau Sant Jordi arena in Barcelona, I am midway through a post-show interview with Arcade Fire's unfeasibly tall, ...
Ray Davies: A Dedicated Chronicler of Fashions
Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 28 November 2010
IN LATE 1965, Ray Davies threw a party. One of his guests was a clothes designer, and as Davies recalled: "I got pissed off with ...
Paul Morley's Showing Off ... Alex Ross
Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 12 December 2010
Paul Morley readies himself for a gladiatorial clash of the critics with New Yorker music writer Alex Ross. ...
Captain Beefheart: Rock's Father of Invention
Obituary by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 19 December 2010
BACK IN 1969, a self-confessed "teenage weirdo" from Portland, Oregon, fell under the spell of a newly-released double album called Trout Mask Replica by Captain ...
Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 13 February 2011
THE VOTING ACADEMY for this year's Brit awards is made up of 1,000 specially invited members from across the UK music industry: music critics, music ...
Elbow: International Arena, Cardiff
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 March 2011
TONIGHT, CARDIFF'S premier gig-shed has turned into a family parlour. Five picture frames hang from the stage, gold and old-fashioned, each of them holding a ...
Charlie Haden: Paul Morley On Music: Charlie Haden
Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 24 April 2011
Amazon has made critics of us all. But how does that bode for the professional critic? ...
PJ Harvey: "I feel things deeply. I get angry, I shout at the TV, I feel sick."
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 24 April 2011
Polly Harvey opens up to Dorian Lynskey about 20 years in music and the emotions behind her latest dark masterpiece. ...
The Smiths: "The Smiths and Morrissey changed our lives"
Comment by Jon Savage, The Observer, 2 October 2011
They might have split 24 years ago, but the Smiths remain as popular as ever, and not just among those who remember them first time ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 25 March 2012
Dennis Morris is celebrated for his iconic photographs of the Sex Pistols and Bob Marley. But few knew that in that pivotal era he was ...
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 22 April 2012
HERE THEY come — the tiger-print leggings, the vest tops, the T-shirts soon to be removed. It is 8.40pm. This 80-year-old art deco venue in ...
The Beatles: 80 years of Abbey Road
Report by Jon Savage, The Observer, 10 June 2012
It's the world's most famous studio and everyone from Edward Elgar to Ella Fitzgerald – and, of course, the Beatles – has made music there. ...
Palma Violets, Savages: Savages/Palma Violets: Liverpool Leaf
Live Review by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 29 July 2012
IT'S A BARGAIN, two for one, a post-punk bogof: the band they're calling the all-girl Joy Division, plus four boys named after perfumed sweets. Both ...
Blur: Maida Vale Studios, London
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 5 August 2012
AFTER BLUR'S 6 Music gig – the first of two shows they're playing for BBC radio tonight, to begin what they have suggested may be ...
Muse: "We like pushing it as far as we can"
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 30 September 2012
On the eve of a new tour and album, The 2nd Law, Muse talk Olympics, conspiracy theories and giving up booze ...
Luke Haines: 'I've Been Lucky All The Way Through'
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 18 November 2012
Former 'saviour of UK rock' Luke Haines has never followed the unwritten rules of pop, as a surreal concept album proves ...
Bobby Womack: The Soundtrack of My Life
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 25 November 2012
BOBBY WOMACK'S career began in his teens in Cleveland, Ohio, when Sam Cooke mentored his family band, the Valentinos. In 1964 he wrote 'It's All ...
Ginger Baker: "I came off heroin something like 29 times"
Profile and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 5 January 2013
Former Cream drummer Ginger Baker talks about his battle with heroin, how he was the original Rolling Stones drummer and being the subject of new ...
Gary Barlow: Philharmonic Hall, Liverpool
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 6 January 2013
"Everything changes but him": Gary Barlow, in a curious performance that included a duet with Peter Kay on the theme to Home and Away. ...
Report and Interview by Colin Irwin, The Observer, 27 January 2013
The folk scene is changing – there are songs about police shootings, Occupy London and rape. Colin Irwin meets the singers who are shaking things ...
Kraftwerk: Why Kraftwerk Are Still The World's Most Influential Band
Retrospective by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 January 2013
Kraftwerk's fusion of art, beats and electronics has become a template copied by musicians everywhere. Now they plan to take London's Tate Modern by storm ...
David Bowie: Who is David Bowie? A Guide to the V&A retrospective
Report by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 16 February 2013
As a blockbuster exhibition, David Bowie is, gets under way at the V&A, Sean O'Hagan dissects the pop icon's influences – and reveals the ideas ...
Jake Bugg, Harry Styles: So Jake Bugg is authentic and Harry Styles is a fake? I don't think so…
Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 3 March 2013
In the great fabricated conflict between Jake Bugg and Harry Styles, it's the perversely sophisticated One Direction star who really represents what's left of pop. ...
Steve Mason: "I don't think rioting is the answer any more"
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 10 March 2013
Former Beta Band frontman Steve Mason explains why not everything on his new solo album is political. ...
The Rolling Stones will reign supreme until there is a new counterculture
Comment by Paul Morley, The Observer, 31 March 2013
The new generation is blocked from moving on creatively, not only by the baby boomers but also their own inertia. ...
The Strypes: 'We Always Knew That You Had To Practise For Months, Get In A Van And Do 200 Gigs...'
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 28 April 2013
Irish rock'n'rollers the Strypes have gone from playing fêtes to iTunes stardom — and they're all still under 18 ...
Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 26 May 2013
He photographed the most enduring images of the '60s folk-rock stars who lived in L.A.'s Laurel Canyon. Now Henry Diltz stars in a documentary about ...
Lianne La Havas: "I get pure happiness from making songs"
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 26 May 2013
She is compared to Sade and Amy Winehouse, with the biggest names in music lining up to duet with her. Barbara Ellen meets Lianne La ...
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 June 2013
Last year, the multi-millionaire publishing mogul and drug-addled dissolute Felix Dennis was diagnosed with throat cancer. But don't count him out yet, he tells Sean ...
Massive Attack meet Adam Curtis: The Unlikely Double Act
Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 30 June 2013
At July's Manchester festival, the boundary-breaking band and radical film-maker will tackle the perilous state of democracy in a show that redefines the notion of ...
Jimi Hendrix: Linda Keith: "How I helped to make Jimi Hendrix a rock'n'roll star"
Retrospective and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 14 September 2013
Linda Keith lent a young blues player a guitar belonging to her boyfriend, Keith Richards – and the rest is history. In a rare interview, ...
Jessie J: 'I'm A Hard Worker. I Want To Be Great At Everything I Do'
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 29 September 2013
Chart-topper, devoted daughter, role model for teenagers... how does Jessie J manage it all? ...
Morrissey: Autobiography (Penguin)
Book Review by Stuart Maconie, The Observer, 19 October 2013
IT CAME UPON a midnight clear. Or just after anyway, if you downloaded the eBook or queued in one of the several bookshops that opened ...
The rise, fall and rise again of Rough Trade
Report and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 23 November 2013
Vinyl sales are up and many music fans want an experience that click and buy can't match. As London's pioneering shop opens in New York, ...
Lorde: 'People Have Treated Me Like A Fascinating Toy'
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 24 November 2013
She's the pop phenomenon of 2013, chalking up No. 1s around the world, signing a £1.5m deal and hanging out with Bowie. How does it ...
Katy B: 'Success Wasn't Even On My Radar'
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 January 2014
She's the Peckham girl who won't dance to anyone else's tune: interviewed back on her old manor, Katy B proves the perfect modern British pop ...
Kim Gordon, Sonic Youth: Kim Gordon: Life after Sonic Youth
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 16 February 2014
Artist, musician and style icon, Kim Gordon has been at the cutting edge of culture for more than 30 years. Dorian Lynskey meets the singer ...
Neneh Cherry: "People ask me where I've been for 18 years…"
Report and Interview by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 23 February 2014
On the cutting edge of pop in the '80s and '90s, the singer paved the way for today's sassy female stars. Now she's back with her ...
Damon Albarn: "Pop's gone back to showbiz. It's like the Beatles or Dylan never happened."
Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 27 April 2014
WHEN DAMON ALBARN was nine, he persuaded his parents, who were in the process of moving house from Leytonstone in east London to rural Essex, ...
Dr. Dre: Dr Dre: The hip-hop head with a business brain
Guide by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 10 May 2014
The man cited by his peers as the most significant force in hip-hop is set to become its richest operator. But what does his $3.2bn ...
Iggy Azalea: "I Have Never Had Any Musicians Tell Me That I Wasn't Authentic"
Interview by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 29 June 2014
The Australian rapper has endured her fair share of controversy in a brief, spectacular career, but seems well equipped to fight her way to the ...
Clean Bandit: New Eyes (Atlantic)
Review by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 1 July 2014
WE'LL PROBABLY look back on this as a golden age of British electronic music, like the first days of disco, as unprepossessing producer types coax ...
Nostalgia pays in Nashville as rocketing record sales make it the capital of vinyl
Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 30 August 2014
Taylor Swift and Beyoncé are among the artists turning to the old LP format to capture the essence of their music. ...
U2: "It's the job of art to be divisive"
Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 12 October 2014
Thirty years after becoming the biggest band in the world, Bono and co still polarise opinion. Here, taking a break in the Côte d'Azur, they ...
Robert Wyatt: Soundtrack of my life: Robert Wyatt
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 October 2014
The prog-rock pioneer on his love of jazz, falsetto singing, the thrill of meeting Bulgarian folk singers and why Pharrell Williams is as good as ...
The Jesus & Mary Chain: The Jesus and Mary Chain on Psychocandy: "It was a little miracle"
Retrospective and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 26 October 2014
How did two dreamy, painfully shy brothers from suburban Scotland create one of the most remarkable albums of the '80s? As the Reids prepare to ...
Bob Dylan: Dylan's Basement Tapes: it sounded like nonsense, says his "cover girl"
Retrospective and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 2 November 2014
Woodstock insider Sally Grossman recalls star's "throwaway stuff" as complete recordings of legendary sessions are released. ...
Pharrell Williams: From spreading happiness to saving the planet: The rise and rise of Pharrell
Comment by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 25 January 2015
What is driving Pharrell Williams's new global conscience as he joins Al Gore's fight against climate change? ...
Sarah Cracknell: 'I Like Being in a Gang. I'm in Safe Hands'
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 24 May 2015
Saint Etienne singer Sarah Cracknell on her new solo album and the pleasure of recording it with close friends ...
Shirley Collins: "When I sing I feel past generations standing behind me"
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 31 May 2015
LEWES, EAST SUSSEX, is a lovely, slyly rebellious town. Pretty shopfronts and streets mask its political history: Thomas Paine wrote his first pamphlet here demanding ...
Pharrell Williams: First Direct Arena, Leeds ****
Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Observer, 14 June 2015
The effortless party-starting superstar may be a jack of all trades, but he's masterly at most ...
Kendrick Lamar: "I am Trayvon Martin. I'm all of these kids."
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 21 June 2015
LAST YEAR, the director of the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention presented research demonstrating that "youth living in inner cities show a higher ...
The Weeknd: With dark tales of sex and drugs, is the Weeknd the next face of R&B?
Report by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 2 August 2015
FOR SEVERAL YEARS, an introverted Canadian singer of Ethiopian descent, known to R&B lovers for his plaintive voice and atmospheric, after-party, comedown groove, has been ...
Boogie Wonderland: Disco's hottest '70s nightclubs
Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 26 September 2015
IT WAS President Jimmy Carter's mother, Lillian, who first brought photographer Bill Bernstein to the legendary Studio 54 nightclub in New York one evening in ...
Awopbopaloobop Alopbamboom: The book that declared pop music dead
Retrospective by Bob Stanley, The Observer, 6 February 2016
Nik Cohn thought John Lennon "self-pitying", Led Zeppelin "embarrassing" and rated Del Shannon's 'Runaway' above Van Morrison's entire career. Bob Stanley revisits his 1969 book. ...
Memoir by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 24 April 2016
I'D SAY IT was all there in 1979's 'I Wanna Be Your Lover', Prince's first hit: the falsetto pout, the swivelling guitar riff, the effortless ...
David Bowie: Paul Morley: The Age of Bowie – How David Bowie Made a World of Difference
Book Review by Barney Hoskyns, The Observer, 17 July 2016
"EVERYONE HAS THEIR own Bowie," Paul Morley writes in this discursive, free-associating ride across the life and work of the Starman Who Changed the World. ...
Review by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 28 August 2016
The R&B singer's new album has slow-burn power and poetry enough to raise it beyond its gimmicky release strategy. ...
"Jazz was the catalyst for change": Jim Marshall's images of '60s festivals
Retrospective and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 4 September 2016
Photographer Jim Marshall is known for iconic images of '60s rock stars. But his first great portraits were of the giants of jazz, captured on ...
Teenage Fanclub: "We were never famous, so we're still getting old"
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 4 September 2016
Indie survivors Teenage Fanclub and their sweet, sunny, smart songs still have a fervent following. So what has prompted the sadness on their new – ...
Seasick Steve: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Observer, 16 October 2016
The artist may have been a session musician rather than a hobo, but only a harsh critic would deny that he has the blues. ...
Marc Almond: "I've had the chance to be subversive in the mainstream"
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 23 October 2016
With a career-spanning 10-album box set coming out, the Soft Cell star reflects on the '80s, Brexit and his fading love affair with London. ...
Johnny Marr, The Sex Pistols: Steve Jones – Lonely Boy; Johnny Marr – Set The Boy Free
Book Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 20 November 2016
Contrasting memoirs of life in the Sex Pistols and the Smiths from two charismatic working-class guitarists. ...
Talking about a new generation … festivals ditch the "heritage acts"
Report and Interview by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 16 April 2017
Why the rock gods of the past are headlining elsewhere as they are dropped from line-ups at US music events ...
Harry Styles: teen star turned serious player?
Profile by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 14 May 2017
He was boyband One Direction's most high-profile pin-up. But as his debut solo album proves, behind the marketing lies a smart young man ...
Morrissey: When did charming become cranky? Why a middle-aged Morrissey is so hard to love
Comment by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 23 July 2017
As a new biopic England is Mine charts the Smiths singer's early life, fans speak of their disillusion at his increasingly outspoken views. ...
Captain Beefheart: The night Captain Beefheart drove me into the hills in a red Corvette
Memoir by Caroline Boucher, The Observer, 20 August 2017
It's 1974, and a young Caroline Boucher is in Los Angeles to meet scary legend Don Van Vliet… ...
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 20 August 2017
The London rockers debut a big-time second album with the sort of frenzied, intimate show that built their success ...
The KLF: KLF's Welcome to the Dark Ages: What time is chaos?
Report and Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 26 August 2017
Twenty-three years ago, Bill Drummond and Jimmy Cauty topped off a bizarre, brilliant pop career by burning £1m. Now they're back to commemorate it with ...
Kate Bush: What joy – 40 years of hitting the heights with Kate Bush
Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 21 January 2018
THE KATE BUSH song 'Wuthering Heights' is 40 years old this month. One could argue that this has momentous import for Bush, female musicians and ...
The Breeders, The Pixies: Kim Deal: "Misogyny is the backbone of the music industry"
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 3 March 2018
KIM DEAL, 56, sings and plays rhythm guitar with the Breeders, formed in 1989 as a side project with Throwing Muses' Tanya Donelly. The band's ...
Farewell NME – irreverent, acerbic, essential. At least when I was there!
Comment by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 11 March 2018
In an era of bland stars and Spotify, is it any wonder the printed music press is no more? ...
Retrospective and Interview by Craig McLean, The Observer, 6 May 2018
Pamela Des Barres had the giants of rock'n'roll in the palm of her hand, as her candid memoir reveals. ...
Richard Thompson: Gawsworth Hall, Cheshire
Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 12 August 2018
Half a century after his first gig with Fairport Convention, folk-rocker Richard Thompson is as cool and contemporary as ever. ...
Cat Power: "I didn't know I loved myself when I was younger"
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Observer, 23 September 2018
Erratic stage shows, psychotic breakdowns, rehab… Cat Power's chaotic life is in direct contrast to her soulful music. Now a new album and motherhood have ...
John Lennon, Yoko Ono: Not the only one: how Yoko Ono helped create John Lennon's Imagine
Retrospective and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 6 October 2018
A new book about the making of his 1971 solo album restores his artist wife to her crucial role in his musical life. She looks ...
Sharon Van Etten: "The more I let go, the more I progress as a human being"
Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Observer, 6 January 2019
Known for complex songs about the dark side of love, the acclaimed singer-songwriter is back with a fifth album that explores synths, rock anthems, mental ...
Phil Collins: Suncorp Stadium, Brisbane — life-affirming MOR ballads delivered against all odds
Live Review by Andrew Stafford, The Observer, 20 January 2019
A notable hobble and diminished vocal range don't detract from an enjoyable night of nostalgia backed by a crowd that have been waiting for this ...
Review by Kate Mossman, The Observer, 9 March 2019
Solange Knowles's tantalising fourth album conjures fragments and fleeting impressions that get inside your head. ...
Jarvis Cocker: "I've lived in my head for most of my life"
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Observer, 19 May 2019
He's never been one to stick to the script. Asked about his new music, the singer talked instead about raves and caves, fatbergs and fatherhood, ...
Lewis Capaldi: Princes Street Gardens, Edinburgh
Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 17 August 2019
With his self-deprecating wit and blue-eyed soul, the young Scots chart-topper delights with a celebratory show mined from undiluted misery ...
Richard Dawson: Anthems for a blighted nation
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 26 October 2019
Celebrated for his incredible voice and outsider-folk charm, the musician is stepping out of the shadows with his new album, 2020, a one-of-a-kind opus that ...
Richard Dawson: Anthems for a blighted nation
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 27 October 2019
Celebrated for his incredible voice and outsider-folk charm, the musician is stepping out of the shadows with his new album, 2020, a one-of-a-kind opus that ...
The Supremes, Mary Wilson: Mary Wilson: "Motown was like walking into Disneyland"
Interview by Barbara Ellen, The Observer, 29 October 2019
MARY WILSON, 75, was a founding member of the Supremes, with Diana Ross and Florence Ballard. At their 1960s peak, with Detroit-based Motown records, the ...
Retrospective by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 19 April 2020
There was a feminist outcry when the band used a tied-up model to promote their 1976 album. Is rock'n'roll more enlightened now? ...
Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 4 October 2020
Co-producer AG Cook strips back Jónsi's first album in a decade to a clever mix of crunchy electronica and floating vocals. ...
Gary Numan with James Hogg: (R)evolution (Little, Brown)
Book Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 15 November 2020
IN DYLAN JONES'S recent oral history of the New Romantic movement, Sweet Dreams, Gary Numan stands out like a sore pale thumb. He fell into ...
Nick Kent: "I was in the right place at the right time, on the wrong drugs"
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 9 January 2021
The rock critic who revived British music writing at the NME in the 70s is back with his first novel — a caustic tale of ...
Covid has pushed pop culture into nostalgia. It's time for something new
Comment by Mark Sinker, The Observer, 10 January 2021
Hopefully this crisis marks the high tide of the tendency endlessly to remake, remodel and recycle the past ...
Mogwai's As the Love Continues: A playback at Glasgow's Tramway
Review by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 20 February 2021
Glasgow's post-rock giants launch their 10th album with a thunderous filmed playback that cries out to be heard live. ...
"Record companies have me on a dartboard": the man making millions buying classic hits
Profile and Interview by Dorian Lynskey, The Observer, 28 February 2021
Hit songs can be a better investment than gold – and by snapping up the rights, Merck Mercuriadis has become the most disruptive force in ...
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 18 April 2021
A fractured childhood, years as a hippie drifter… the musician's new memoir tells of her incredible adventures before she found fame – and of her ...
Saint Etienne: "The 90s seem like yesterday": Saint Etienne on 30 years as pop auteurs
Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 5 September 2021
SARAH, BOB AND PETE talk about recording their mesmeric new album via Zoom, the reality of the 90s and the oddness of pop parenthood. ...
Patti Smith: Lenny Kaye: "Boom! I saw the Beatles on The Ed Sullivan Show and everything changed"
Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 14 November 2021
As guitarist in the Patti Smith Group and compiler of psychedelic touchstone Nuggets, his place in music history is secured. His new book charts the ...
Cornershop's Tjinder Singh: "My dad said, 'They'll not always want you here'. That stuck."
Profile and Interview by Jude Rogers, The Observer, 2022
Three decades since the band formed, Cornershop's genre-defying political music is still making a stand. Ahead of a new album, we join them on a ...
Kanye West: Kim and Kanye divorce poised to be glitzy, messy and very public
Comment by Edward Helmore, The Observer, 12 February 2022
Epic split between Kim Kardashian and rapper now known as Ye, with wealth, parenting disputes and trolling is perfect divorce for the Instagram Age ...
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